It all started with a little post. I was disappointed. I only noted that I was not the only person deleting the application. Take a look:

I got all set to download the new version only to be stopped dead in my tracks: I was going to have to pay $2.99 for a previously free service. I, with just about everyone else, then proceeded to remove the software from my phone.

I continued on:

If you want to charge for your service, add a Pro version. Don’t force all users to pay. Keep one “Lite” ad supported version available for free, and have the option to upgrade to the paid version. This was a bad move. There are several other apps that can do the same thing that are available out there, and that offer both free and paid versions. I’m sure they don’t just decide to charge you out of the blue.

So far, all I can see is that I managed to state a fact (at the time of the writing, the application’s comment section was filled with people uninstalling this app) and then stated my personal opinion. Nowhere above do I seem to say that trying to monetize is a bad, evil thing. Nowhere do I encourage others to uninstall this application.

With those points made…

I was informed last night that the company in question had rolled out a free version. I replied to said company:

Yes, I did go out of my way to make this comment, but up to this point, they had not allowed my comments to be posted on their company blog and had not taken the time to address this issue publicly. Rather, not publicly enough. There was no update on the company’s blog (there still hasn’t been one as of the time of this writing), no word at all about what was going on.

So, instead of giving me information or even just letting this slide by, someone at this company decided they would reply to me:

The tone in this reply, especially the “Seriously, why?” came across as snarky and rude. Keep in mind, this tweet came from the company’s official account. Someone who was clearly representing the company. After having read that, I was a little miffed, I’ll admit. I’m not used to a company replying like this to an individual who has made a complaint. The debate went back and forth at this point, with me stating that more warning would have been nice, the reply being that there isn’t enough room in the description area to let everyone know about the update. At this point, I was getting angry. Now I was being told that it can’t be done. Even though I have seen several other devs remove a word or two from their description to add version information or small warnings about how their app was now no longer free.

Yes, I cursed. I was frustrated because of the way I had been treated. I was thinking at this point the person on the other end would just walk away. At least, that’s what I would have done. Leave it alone. This was the first time I had made noise about the situation since my post half a week prior. Does it seem like I’m out to get the company in question?

After a few more rounds of whether or not some other info could have been removed to make room for a warning or notice of some kind, the person on the other end decided to try the previous argument again.

Again with the “Seriously.” I commented that I understand about monetization, and the money wasn’t the issue, but I would have liked a little more warning that the previously free service was now going to become a paid app. I then asked if there were plans to start charging for the iPhone version of the app (yes, I’m rocking an Android handset), and as of the time of this writing, I still haven’t gotten an answer to that question.

At this point, I turned to FriendFeed. After posting my original article, I was asked to let everyone know of any updates to the situation. I let everyone know that there was now a “Lite” version and a “Pro” version of the app, and yes, I did mention how I was treated by the representative of the company.

I then had this to say:

I wish I could find a way to delete my account. I want absolutely NOTHING to do with these morons

Ok, I’ll admit it. Maybe I shouldn’t have used the word “morons.” however, I felt insulted that a representative of the company would treat me in the way that I had been treated.

I figured I would just let it go at this point, and went to bed.

And then I woke up.

Someone named [redacted] who claimed to work for said company had gone on a rant saying I was trying to incite a riot. Here’s an excerpt:

You are being unreasonable. The mob of users that somehow imagined it was all a nefarious plot to screw them out of $1.99 are acting more like a mob than rational people. You weren’t forced to upgrade. Why do you assume that it was some giant bait and switch? That doesn’t even make sense. Android market share is still tiny. If we were going to attempt some sneaky bait and switch and then run away to Mexico with your 2 dollars, don’t you think we would have done it with a much larger market?

This comment was followed up by a series of links that lead back to articles about trolls. Add that onto the fact that [redacted] had actually used the word troll in the original comment. Along with jerk. Oh, and the tag #HumanityFail was in there for good measure, as well.

There were already several replies from other regulars in FriendFeed’s Android room where this had been posted. But I couldn’t resist. I replied:

@[redacted] Let’s get a few things straight, shall we? First off, when the upgrade was launched on Tuesday, it was $2.99. It wasn’t until just yesterday (Friday the 17th) that the Lite and Pro ($1.99) versions came out. Second, as of midnight Pacific time this morning, the iPhone version of the app was still free. How is that fair to Android users? Third, my use of the word “bullshit” occurred AFTER the FIRST time I was asked “Seriously?” sarcastically. In customer service, you’re gonna run across irate customers, and to treat them as such is beyond stupid. Next, you have at least 10 services listed in the description, taking one o r two out so you could have added that this was a paid upgrade should have been no problem. As far as me “acting like a monster,” this is how the conversations started last night: I was informed that there was now a Lite version of the app (after a few days of waiting) so I said “@[redacted] Sorry, but you’re already lost me as a user. I’m surprised it took you THAT long to add a lite version.” This is where someone at [redacted] decided to start asking me “Seriously?” THAT is what made me the most angry.

When someone treats a customer like that, it is wrong. I’m not worried about having to pay $1.99. That’s not the issue. What the issue was was that there was no warning that the new version was going to cost $2.99 until the Market asked me to confirm my purchase. That was where the issue was with me. That is, until someone there started BERATING me.

To top it off, the way you’re acting here is EXACTLY the same issue I had last night. I’m very disappointed this this is the way you would treat your users. I hope, for your sake, you figure out how to treat your customers, both paying and non-paying, sooner rather than later. Maybe one of these days someone there can take the time to apologize to me. Quick note: I was more than happy to let it go where I had left it last night, but you just threw the fuel on the fire. Sometimes you just have to know when to walk away. #CustomerServiceFail.

Again, I would have been happy just to let it all go at this point. But I’m a stubborn person. And when you insult me, I’m gonna reply. [redacted] started in on me again, claiming I was trying to start a mob, that I was personally insulting them and that I was just a plain old jerk. Again, I replied:

Do you think you could treat me the way you did last night without rebuttal?? Your tone last night was sardonic, you were treating me like shit BEFORE I even posted another word in here last night. Want the timeline? I’d be glad to show you. Tell me how to deactivate my account, and this can just go away.

After a few more requests to find out how to delete my account, I was given the information I needed to make it happen. And happen it did (one has to wonder that with the speed in which my account was deleted if the top dog wasn’t aware of what was going on the whole time. I then received this comment:

Sorry Dan. It has been a frustrating couple of days. I’ve been working really long hours since this whole fiasco started and there has been a constant bombardment of people insisting that we were being evil when that was not our intention at all. We tried to rectify the situation as quickly as possible. Sorry.

While I appreciate the apology, I don’t need to hear all the excuses. There’s NO excuse for treating a customer/user in the manner in which I had been treated.

Again, I wanted to let it go at this point. I thanked [redacted] for their apology and wished them and the rest of the team the best. I thought this was over.

Until the top dog [redacted] decided to throw his two cents in as well:

Dan, I went in and personally deleted your account today based on your request. One thing I noted that was puzzling however was that you’ve never uploaded any media to us or even added a singe destination. I have to say I’m a little confused as to why you are so passionate and outspoken on the matter when you’re not even a [redacted] user. While we’re curious I’d much rather close the matter and move on. I see that you and [redacted] have made up and so I’ll consider the matter closed. Thanks for all of your feedback, we’ll be sure to incorporate it ongoing.

As if I hadn’t already removed all of my content from the service after the way I had been treated so far? Do these people not know how or when to just stop?

Shortly after this last comment, the people from [redacted] went in and removed all of their comments save the apology.

i have just a few more things to add to all of this:

I accept responsibility for the things I said. I stand by most of them. If anyone at the company is reading this, I’m sorry if any of my comments were taken as personal insults.

That said, the way that everyone handled the situation at said company was terrible. Every single person I spoke with wanted to argue with me, put me down, berate me, insult me, or make me feel like I’m an idiot. That is NO WAY to handle a customer complaint. I don’t care if you’re offering ad supported software for free, making my hamburger, or if I’m paying you thousands of dollars per year so I can talk on my phone, you do not EVER argue with the customer. Especially in a public forum. The way the development team handled the issue was wrong from the get-go, and insured the fact that I will not ever use their service again. Not only that, but I will be passing the word around about the way I was treated. It might be on a blog, it might be via Twitter, hell, it might be while I’m chatting with a friend, it doesn’t matter, I will steer those I know away from this service.

I hope that everyone has learned a little lesson from this episode, especially the bullies at Pixelpipe.

Pixelpipe is an application that lets you upload your photos to various places around the web, including Twitpic, Facebook, Flickr, and Posterous, to name a few. This is a great service for the mobile shutterbugs of the world. Instead of having to log into each and every service and upload your pictures, you can do it all from one hub. You can upload in a number of ways, including via the web, email, MMS, and with software for your iPhone or Android handset.

This morning, I woke to find that I had a few software updates for my G1. Lo and behold, there was an update for Pixelpipe. I got all set to download the new version only to be stopped dead in my tracks: I was going to have to pay $2.99 for a previously free service. I, with just about everyone else, the proceeded to remove the software from my phone.

If you want to charge for your service, add a Pro version. Don’t force all users to pay. Keep one “Lite” ad supported version available for free, and have the option to upgrade to the paid version. This was a bad move. There are several other apps that can do the same thing that are available out there, and that offer both free and paid versions. I’m sure they don’t just decide to charge you out of the blue.

Pixelpipe, fix this. This is an outrage.

Note: as of the time of this writing, the iPhone app is still free.

Update: I finally got a reply from Pixelpipe, although it could have gone quite a bit better…

New Look

The first thing I noticed when opening Babbler was the new look to the tabs. See for yourself:

Doesn’t the shot on the right look better? I sure think so!

Speech To Text

Take a look again at the new UI, and you’ll see the mic button. That’s right, Babbler lets you update your status via speech. Just tap the button, and speak into your phone’s mic, just like when you do a Google Voice Search.

New Inbox

Babbler has updated the look of the inbox as well. They’ve separated messages from pokes. The only concern is that clicking on either link opens the browser. The dev says that he’s looking into a way to make the inbox accessible in the application.

Widget

For those of us who have paid for the full version, we now get a home page widget. It shows the latest feed posts, and with one tap, you can comment on posts.

Babbler keeps updating, and every update looks better. Look for more contact information on profiles and a native inbox.

If you’re a Babbler user, tell me what you think. If you’re not, try the full version. You have 24 hours to get a full refund, so there’s nothing to lose.

Update: This morning (July 14th), Babbler pushed another update, removing the “Babbler” title bar and freeing up a few pixels along the top. Nice!

1. Go Mobile (Officially)

Twitter is a very mobile, and therefore versatile platform. You can update your Twitter status two ways via your mobile phone, SMS or the mobile web version of Twitter compatible across all browser enabled phones. FriendFeed officially supports an iPhone web application, but not a mobile specific interface that works on all fronts. As for updates via text, that is virtually non-existant. Sure you can update your FriendFeed status via text through Twitter but that creates a dependance on Twitter, not FriendFeed, which is needed for re-occurring users.

2. Developer Excitement

Let us get this out in the open, I am not a developer, but I speak to plenty of developers on a recurring basis. I asked them why no one seems to be developing applications for FriendFeed and the answer I got was not due to the amount of visitors, but rather the API and remote key.

Supposedly the Twitter API is easier to work with less restrictions and the remote key represents yet another boundary a potential user of a FriendFeed application must overcome. While I cannot speak for the first part (once again, I am not a developer) I do understand the issues with the remote key. I have stumbled across FriendFeed applications here and there and as a user I hate entering my remote key. I see no point to and I would rather enter my password or at least go the Oauth route which is increasingly popular amongst many Twitter applications.

FriendFeed, it is time you start catering to the developers. They are the driving force behind Twitter, they can be the driving force behind FriendFeed also.

3. Moderation

FriendFeed mobs are an issue. I suppose I understand where Arrington is coming from when he talks about the mobs, because I have been at the center of them, If you remember a while back, Scoble commented on one of my pieces disagreeing (and completely misconstrued) with what I had to say about FriendFeed.

Since Scoble is such a large and very well followed person on FriendFeed (he is the poster boy for FriendFeed) many people began to comment, so many that there was no way I could possibly handle it, or stop it. It sucked and this was just from one prominent person commenting on my piece over at FriendFeed.

Unlike the other two suggestions I had above, moderation features have been discussed and are eventually coming. Thank god.

FriendFeed is a powerful web application with huge amounts of potential, but for how much FriendFeed can do, it is severely limited without the three things I mentioned above. It is time FriendFeed starts thinking about a user base beyond that of the tech world if they wish to compete with… well… anyone.

I Tweet! has all of the basic functions you would expect from a Twitter app. You can view all your friends’ tweets, people who @reply you, your DM’s, and send tweets (at this time, when publishing a tweet, Twitter says it’s from the API, not from I Tweet!). You can also view information from users’ profiles (name website, location, etc), and choose to follow or unfollow them.

There are several other things that make this a great application. First, there’s the ability to search, and it will even search in a certain physical location nearby to you.

There are a multitude of settings to mess around with, as well. You can pick one of two themes (I prefer dark), how often I Tweet! checks for tweets, replies, and DM’s, and even what color your LED blinks when you receive notifications.

Tweeting is simple. Just click “Tweet” and you’re set. As you can see above, you have the option to add your GPS location and a photo to your message (I Tweet! has the option of using either TwitPic or yFrog for photo uploads). Press your menu key and you have the option to shorten your URL (with tinyurl or bit.ly).

Most Android users claim that rival Twitter app Twidroid is better, but I have had too many issues with Twidroid. It never seemed to grab my replies and DM’s when I had set it to, it was always opening multiple instances, and it sucked the life out of my battery. I have only had a few force closes with I Tweet!, but other than that, it has run perfectly. Notifications appear when they’re supposed to, I can run I Tweet! in the background for 12 hours straight and still have some battery life, and the interface is slick and easy to use.

I Tweet! is well worth the $2.99 price tag. It is more solid than any other application in the Android Market right now. With the Market’s 24 hour refund policy, you have nothing to lose by trying it out, so give it a run and let me know what you think.

They’re all full of horrible advice.

I have one simple do, and one simple don’t I’ll share with you.

Do

Do be yourself and have fun. Of course, be smart about what you’re doing. Always keep in mind that what you tweet is there forever. But otherwise, have fun and do what makes you happy. If you’re just there to keep in touch with friends, that’s great. If you’re trying to promote your blog or a product, or even a brand, that’s totally cool as well.

Don’t

Don’t let others tell you what you can and can’t do on Twitter. We’re all here for our own reasons (see above) and that’s great. None of these arbitrary rules that people make up are official. One article I read said not to tweet more than ten times per day. Seriously. They said that. I get how it could push all your followers’ friends’ tweets off screen, but if you’ve got something to say, then say it. Worst case is I unfollow you.

There’s a page full of Twitter’s rules. Those are the only rules you have to follow. Besides that, don’t let anyone tell you otherwise.

Performance

The Seesmic web client is blazingly fast. After the initial onslaught of visitors the Seesmic web client had after CrunchUp it has not faltered since. It has officially blown Tweetvisor and Peoplebrowsr out of the water in terms of performance. This includes load times as well as using specific functions such as search, replying and updating your Twitter status.

User Interface

Pros:

The user interface has a very Google like feel to it. All the functions are laid out quite clearly in a neat manner while remaining minimal and keeping the focus on what you are using the client for, tweets. Hovering over a Twitter user automatically brings up the reply option with an arrow with further options to RT and/or direct message.

Hovering over a profile picture for a few seconds will also bring up a few features, such as the option to unfollow, message or visit the Twitter users profile as well as the number of followers/followings. Clicking on a profile page will open up the profile biography and status updates within the web client.

You also have the option to switch views to read tweets. You can either view your tweets in multiple column views or in a single column view which displays your tweets in an almost email like fashion. This makes it easy to quickly look over tweets without all the extra features and scrolling.

Direct messaging has also gotten a major over haul. Direct Messaging has essentially gotten its own client within a client. By clicking on the messages button up top you can get a quick overview of all your DM’s. Clicking on the DM’s will pop-up a seperate column with the messages that are threaded to help you keep track of the conversation. You are also notified when you get a DM from one of your followers.

Cons:

The UI has some very random quirks to it. One of the major random quirks is direct messaging. The Seesmic web client treats direct messages like e-mail, creating a whole seperate interface for the DM functionality. There is no option to simply add DM’s to the main column view. While I like the seperate messaging aspect of the Seesmic Web client sometimes I just like a quick overview rather than clicking on a whole seperate aspect of the client itself.

Final Thought

The Seesmic web client is an awesome product that deserves a lot of praise. Loic Le Meur and his team have balanced a rich feature set, simplicity and performance very well. While the client definitely is in beta stage it has a lot of things going right for it. Already I am seeing my followers switch over to the Seesmic web client and praising how well it works.

Great move team Seesmic, Tweetdeck, your turn.

Feel free to check out our big sister site TechGeist for your fill of awesome tech news.

The TOS goes over the basic legalities such as “whatever is expressed here is not our fault…” and what have you. The most interesting aspect of the TOS though was the licensing. It turns out you aren’t allowed to use the tweets on walmart.com/twitter unless they are for personal use. Here, I will copy and paste for your own convenience.

Your compliance with the Terms provides a limited, terminable license regarding access to and use of the Site Contents, for non- commercial purposes, in accordance with these Terms.

In addition to compliance with the other provisions of these Terms, you agree:

(a) Not to alter any Site Content without Wal-Mart’s express, written permission or use any Site Content in a manner specifically prohibited by, or not expressly authorized by, these Terms;

(b) To use the Site Contents for your own informational purposes only. For example, unless expressly authorized by Wal-Mart, you agree not to place any Site Contents on a network and will not use any Site Contents to advertise or otherwise promote any products, services or political positions;

(c) Not to copy, distribute, reverse engineer, decompile, disassemble, modify, disclose or otherwise use any Site Code without the express written permission of Wal-Mart; In addition, you agree not to combine or associate the Content or excerpt with any other material, e.g., as part of a derivative work, collective work or compilation;

(d) Wal-Mart may, solely in its own discretion and without advance notice, revoke the limited license regarding all of the Site Contents or with respect to specific images, texts, other Site features or Site Code. If requested by Wal-Mart, you agree to cease using and/or to destroy any copies of the subject Content or Code;

(e) Unless expressly permitted in writing from Wal-Mart, you will not frame, link, associate with advertisements (e.g., pop-ups) or commercially exploit the Site, Site Contents or the Site Code; and

(f) You are responsible for ensuring that other parties that have access to the Site, Site Content or the Site Code through your system or equipment, or through your actions or inactions, agree to and comply with these the Terms.

This Site and all its Contents are provided solely for your personal, non-commercial use. In addition to Wal-Mart’s other rights, the compilation (meaning the collection, arrangement, and assembly) of all Content on this Site is the exclusive property of Wal-Mart Stores, Inc and is also protected by U.S. and international copyright laws. © 2008 Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. Access and use of this Site by you does not grant to you any license except as may be expressly set forth in these Terms. All rights not expressly granted to you by these Terms are reserved by Wal-Mart, its owner(s), affiliated entities or its licensors.

So basically what they are saying is if you use the site content (which includes the tweets) for any purpose other than personal than you can’t use the data. The funny thing about this is that Wal-mart does not own this data, Twitter does. Making these restrictions moot. I could simply go directly to the Wal-mart Twitter accounts and use the data as I please.

Nice shot Wal-mart. But this is the web and this is Twitter. You control nothing.

CoTweet has been praised by many blogs around the web, they allow direct forwarding of tweets for business employees who aren’t on Twitter as well as a host of other features specific to a business environment. Big businesses including Microsoft and Coca-Cola use CoTweet to manage their Twitter account.

What is most interesting though is with this round of funding CoTweet is opening its doors to anyone. While the product won’t see droves of users like Tweetdeck or even Seesmic Desktop, CoTweet doesn’t mess around. CoTweet is dead serious about being first and foremost about the business and helping them organize, react and reach out to the twitterverse.